Dalia Khurshid, the dynamic Egyptian Minister of Investment, asserted: “The volume of targeted direct foreign investments over the coming period amounts to $10-15bn. We also seek to attract indirect foreign investments amounting to $5-10 billion”.
Khurshid added in a statement to the MEO :“The decision to liberalise the Egyptian pound has put the Egyptian market and economy on the right track”.
Investment Disputes
Khurshid declared that: “Recent amicable settlement of international investment disputes emphasises the Egyptian government’s keenness to settle all disputes amicably in order to encourage investors and improve the investment climate in Egypt. The government sincerely strives to overcome all obstacles and solve all problems facing investors, protect their rights and settle investment disputes through tailored mechanisms in order to reassure the foreign and domestic investors and strengthen confidence in the investment climate in Egypt”. She added, “The government has managed to settle three important arbitration cases filed against Arcelor Mittal, Bawabet Al Kuwait Holding Company (BKH) and the Italian ASA International Cleaning Company during the last few months”.
Egypt’s ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report
Khurshid revealed that, “Egypt’s ranking has improved in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2017 for the first time since 2010 as it stepped up nine positions to rank number 122 among 190 countries against its 131 rank of last year, reflecting improvement in the investment climate in Egypt”. “The Egyptian Investment Ministry strives to develop a clear investment policy based on investment encouragement and a legislations that will help in attracting developmental investments, which will in turn improve the living conditions of the citizens and create job opportunities as per priorities set for Egypt’s Economic Development Plan 2030”.
Decisions of the Supreme Council for Investment (SCI)
Khurshid asserted, “The Supreme Council for investment (SCI) headed by President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi has taken effective decisions and all relevant bodies will select appropriate executive and legislative measures in order to be implemented as soon as possible, according to an urgent timetable”. She added, “The SCI’s technical secretariat is currently following up the decisions issued by the council in its first meeting held weeks ago following circulating and notifying relevant ministries, bodies and agencies of the SCI’s decisions and assignments within their respective competencies. The secretariat also makes the necessary arrangements to implement the SCI’s decisions”. She noted, “There is a close cooperation among all ministries, agencies and governorates and they are all keen to cooperate and work together to harmonise their performance in order to create a stimulating investment environment in all fields. In addition, all decisions of the council that require legislative measures will be discussed with the relevant ministries in a few days”.
Foreign Investments
The minister of investment added, “The volume of direct foreign investment for the fiscal year 2015 – 2016 amounted to about $6.8bn. We seek to attract direct foreign investments amounting to $10-15bn and indirect foreign investments amounting to $5-10bn through an initial public offering (IPO) programme on which we have taken decisions in the SCI”.
The initial public offering in the stock market
Khurshid continued, “We are currently making arrangements to implement the biggest initial public offering programme in the Egyptian economy within the next 3-5 years. We will partially offer through this programme a number of state-owned companies in the Egyptian and international stock markets. This ambitious programme will serve as a major tool to attract indirect domestic and foreign investments to Egypt”.
Egyptian pound flotation
She asserted: “The decision to float the Egyptian pound and allowing “the supply-and-demand mechanism” to set the price, will put the Egyptian economy and market on the right track. This move comes within measures taken by the government to create a favourable investment climate and attract more domestic, Arab and foreign investments”.
SMEs
She noted, “Sharing expertise and successful experiences as well as international experiences among all Arab and African countries is an essential catalyst for success and promotion of SMEs initiatives, which is the backbone of successful economies in any country”.
She also called for utilising the Egyptian Central Bank’s initiative to help financing the SMEs through granting loans and establishing industrial and productive entities, which are one of utilisation factors of this initiative.
The plan of the Ministry of Investment
She explained: “The Ministry of Investment works on developing a legislative framework for the investment environment, including the new investment law whose draft is scheduled to be submitted to the cabinet at the end of the month. The ministry also strives to facilitate investment procedures and to implement the new investment plan, which will achieve sustainable development included in Egypt’s Vision 2030. It also seeks to update the investment map across all sectors and highlight open new investment opportunities throughout the governorates of Egypt”.
She added, “We cannot forget that Egypt is a global hub for businesses and investment. The Egyptian government has chosen a large number of national projects with a view to increase private investments in all the governorates of Egypt. These projects cover a range of sectors, including industry, agriculture, tourism and services, and these investment opportunities will be highlighted in details and will be included in the investment map very soon”.
